Men’s Swimming and Diving Moves to 3-0 With 196-102 Win Over Columbia

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – In its first home meet of the 2010-11 season, the Harvard men's swimming and diving team took an early lead and never relinquished it, downing Columbia, 196-102, Friday night at Blodgett Pool. The Crimson captured 11 of 16 events contested against the Lions.

Freshman Wes Stearns got Harvard its first win of the night in the second event, taking the 1,650-yard freestyle title in 15:52.83, more than 10 seconds ahead of his closest competitor. Classmates Chris Satterthwaite and Spenser Goodman followed with a one-two finish in the 200 free and junior Robert Newell earned a win in the 100 backstroke with a time of 51.37.

Sophomore Owen Wurzbacher led a Harvard sweep in the 100 breast with a winning time of 57.93 and junior Niall Janney took the next race; the 200 butterfly in a time of 1:51.04. Harvard owned the boards in the diving competition, taking the top three spots in both the one- and three-meter competitions. Sophomore Michael Stanton led off with a win on the three-meter board while freshman Joe Zarrella claimed the one-meter event.

Rookie Jack Pretto won the 200 backstroke in 1:54.91, fronting a Harvard sweep in the event, Wurzbacher spearheaded his second Crimson sweep of the day with a win in the 200 breast, and Stearns picked up his second win of the day in the 500 free event. Captain Douwe Yntema rounded out Harvard's winners with a victory in the 400 individual medley, swimming a time of 4:05.72 to lead a Harvard sweep in the event.

Harvard is back in action in two weeks when it travels across town to face off against Boston University in a non-conference meet Dec. 3.